Kinematic fixtures to enable multi-material printing and rapid non-destructive inspection during two-photon lithography

Two-photon lithography (TPL) is a polymerization based technique that enables additive manufacturing of millimeter scale parts with submicron features. TPL equipment is often based on retrofitted optical microscopes that lack precise registration capabilities. Consequently, slow and error-prone visu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Precision engineering 2018-10, Vol.54 (C), p.131-137
Main Authors: Saha, Sourabh K., Uphaus, Timothy M., Cuadra, Jefferson A., Divin, Chuck, Ladner, Ian S., Enstrom, Kenneth G., Panas, Robert M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Additive manufacturing
ENGINEERING
Integrated metrology
Kinematic coupling
NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
Radiograph
X-ray imaging
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Summary:Two-photon lithography (TPL) is a polymerization based technique that enables additive manufacturing of millimeter scale parts with submicron features. TPL equipment is often based on retrofitted optical microscopes that lack precise registration capabilities. Consequently, slow and error-prone visual alignment to fiducials is necessary if registration to pre-existing features is required. Herein, we have designed, built, and tested precise kinematic fixtures that are repeatable to within ±315 nm (3σ value) and passively register the build surface to TPL equipment with an accuracy of ±1.7 μm. This enables one to sequentially print with multiple materials by building the structures directly on top of the kinematic fixtures. In addition, the same fixtures passively register to an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system to enable non-destructive 3D inspection that is integrated with the fabrication process. These fixtures (i) provide a practical means to handle micro-scale parts during non-destructive imaging, (ii) reduce the set-up time for X-ray CT from more than an hour to less than a few minutes, and (iii) eliminate operator uncertainty from the multi-material printing and imaging process. As such, these fixtures enable new printing and imaging functionalities that are critical for high-quality additive manufacturing of multi-material polymer parts with microscale and submicron features. •Passive alignment fixtures were developed for two-photon lithography.•Kinematic fixtures repeatable to within ±315 nm (3σ value).•Fixtures register build surface to 3D printer with an accuracy of ±1.7 μm.•Fixtures enable multi-material 3D printing through precise registration.•Multi-system registration enables integrated non-destructive X-ray imaging.
ISSN:0141-6359
1873-2372
DOI:10.1016/j.precisioneng.2018.05.009